Playoff Football

When Glenn K. Smith and I went to Kent a week and a half ago, we witnessed a drubbing of gargantuan proportions of Mariner by Kentlake. The chain crew from Kentlake were fairly vocal and extremely unkind in their appraisal of Western Conference (Wesco) football teams. Unfortunately, nothing has happened in the playoffs so far to call their judgement into question. Kentlake pounded Mariner 49-7; Bellaramine Prep thumped Edmonds-Woodway 42-7, and Skyline beat Monroe 59-21. So, it was with some misgivings that Glenn and I found ourselves driving across the trestle to Lake Stevens to watch yet another futile attempt by another another outgunned, out-manned Wesco team.

It didn’t happen. Lake Stevens turned out to be the real deal, turning back the Olympia Bears 21-17, scoring on an improbable touchdown pass with 12.5 seconds left on the game clock. The Vikings were back on their own 10-yard line facing a third-down and 42 yards to go situation when QB Jake Nelson took off on a heart-stopping fifty-nine yard run to the Olympia twenty-six yard line. That is when Nelson switched to an air attack and hit Christian Garza, a great receiver, for the winning score. Nelson willed his team to a win, and it was made easier because his teammates were also not the kind of kids who give up easily.

I was impressed with the speed and tenacity of the Lake Stevens defense. They flowed to the ball well, were quick as well as fast, and when they arrived at their target, they carried a whole lot of “Hit’em” with them. They never gave up, even when things seemed hopeless.

Speed kills. That is evident in most sports, but speed (or lack of it) is especially noticeable in football. Schools like Lakes, Bellevue, Skyline, and Eastlake, and 2B schools like Adna, powerhouses all, have players who have bought into the speed/power mantra (they go together, hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly…different but working together for a desired outcome). Not all schools and not all kids buy into all the work it takes to perform at a higher level. I have seen a number of teams whose seniors in particular have failed to put the requisite time in the weight room or the track and had their post-seasons hopes derail before they get started. And, that is when they start say “I coulda, woulda, shoulda”, but they are seniors…and nobody cares..

I had a player once who told me that he “Loved” the game of football. More than anything, he said. “No, you don’t,” I told him. “You can’t say that'” he sputtered. “Yes, I can,” I said. “You were ineligible last year, and you are ineligible again this year. Don’t tell me that you love this game when you won’t do what it takes in the classroom to play it.” That holds true for the kids who won’t venture into the weight room or onto the track. Don’t tell me how much you love this game when you won’t do what it takes to become as good at it as you can possibly be.

The guys I feel sorry for are the ones who ran after school in the winter for an hour or so every day. The weather was bitter cold, wet, and the wind was biting, but they were running, happy to be back inside the weight room where they could warm up by doing squats and power cleans. Happy because they knew that they could be competitive come next fall. Jim Olsen